January- what a month! If you follow me on Instagram none of this is new, but I thought I'd make a note of this remarkable month. I started off the year with a bad case of bronchitis and a slow recovery. We already had a couple of feet of snow on the ground when a double whammy of storms hit us in early January. My husband managed to get out to his business trip to Chicago which left me here to deal with the snow on my own. As of now we've had over 5' of snow this winter- very unusual for Central Oregon. Some of that had melted by the time the big storms hit, but still there were roof collapses all over town including a school gym (luckily no one was in the building). Lots and lots of buildings are also dealing with ice dams. The roofers are going to be super busy this summer. We were lucky to not have roof issues, but Mark spent the week after he got back dealing with roof snow and ice. There was a week there where we were out shoveling and snowblowing several times a day.

After the storms.

When the sun came out we were greeted with the most beautiful snowy views around Bend! We also had the good fortune to be able to ski right out the door. I spent loads of time watching and feeding the backyard birds. The feeders have been so incredibly active. Even now, more than two weeks after the last big dump of snow the snow on the ground at our house is over 18" deep with snow banks and plowed piles reaching 5' or more. We've had some melting and the roads were a mess for a while, but it's been pretty cold this past week so melting has slowed down.

Skiing on our neighborhood walking path.

Path in Drake Park.

Footbridge across Mirror Pond.

The other day in our neighborhood.

When I haven't been dealing with snow I've been knitting. I ended up making 13 pussy hats. Six of them went to Washington DC for the Women's March. Six went to friends here in Bend (plus one for me) for the local Women's March. The local march was amazing and it was wonderful to see the huge marches all around the world.

6 hats sent to Washington.

5 of the 7 hats that went to the Women's March in Bend.

Marching with friends.

I'm still using up stash yarn and decided to continue to make pussy hats. The two below are in blues because some people might not care for pink. These are available for sale in my Etsy shop.

Blue pussyhat for sale.

Turquoise pussyhat for sale.

Another thing I've been doing lately is all these little bird watercolors. I'm having so much fun with them. I've put a selection of these original paintings in the shop as well.

If you've read this far I thank you! One thing you will notice is the absence of any fabric based artwork. I haven't sewn in a couple of months now. I think I'm in a bit of a rut, though it doesn't bother me. I'll get back to it at some point. This past week has been distressing due to the death of my father-in-law and the current political climate. I plan to spend the foreseeable future knitting, painting, reading and just taking care of things at home. Quilting and sewing will happen again when I get some inspiration. I will be heading to QuiltCon in late February and that always gets me fired up.